by Delano Squires (@DelanoSquires)
It’s not every day that someone right of center gives former President Barack Obama credit for anything, but National Marriage Week (February 7-14) is a perfect opportunity to observe how far most Democrats have strayed from their former standard-bearer on family matters.
As both candidate and president, President Obama regularly drew a connection between family structure and social outcomes. He gave a Father’s Day speech in Chicago during his 2008 presidential campaign that noted half of black children live in single-parent homes. He took absent dads to task for failing to realize that “what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child—it’s the courage to raise one.”
His 2013 speech in Chicago about strengthening the economy for the middle class included his belief that “strong, stable families” are the most important ingredients for success, “which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood.”
